Gatland: Back to basics works

As head coach of Ireland, he is resigned to working with playing resources which will never match those of his native New Zealand. But when asked to compare his lot now with the shambolic scenes he found on taking up the job almost three years ago, Gatland can't help but smile.

Thrust into the job at the age of 34 in late February 1998, just a fortnight before Ireland marched out to face France in Paris, the former All Black had an early experience of the dramatic and occasionally comical nature of life with the Emerald Isle's first XV.

'I remember before that first game, we trained on the Friday, we went to a local club in Paris and we couldn't even put two or three passes together, we could barely hold a ball,' recalled Gatland. 'There was a big crowd watching us and every time we dropped a ball they laughed and jeered at us. I didn't know where to look, I just wanted to dig a hole.

'It was hardly the ideal preparation but, to be fair, we went out and turned in a great performance on the Saturday.'

It would be fairer to say that Ireland turned in a traditionally gutsy but futile performance that day. They led 16-6 at half-time but collapsed to an 18-16 defeat.

Gatland knew immediately that the occasional fired-up showing against superior opposition wouldn't cover up the faults he had seen in those early training sessions.

As he prepares his team to pursue a second successive victory over France on Saturday, evidence of progress enough, he takes pride in the work done behind the scenes.

'The training sessions have improved immeasurably, particularly in terms of intensity,' said Gatland. 'Coming from New Zealand, there is always an emphasis on training the way you play. With my first involvement here, I could see that the Irish players were holding something back, training at 70 per cent and keeping it for match day.

'Whether there was a fitness problem or not, I'm not too sure, but you can't afford to do that. I told them we had to concentrate on working hard all week and getting the reward on match day. It has changed.

'The most important thing I did? I was lucky enough, having experience of playing at a high level in New Zealand and for the All Blacks, to be able to bring some of that attitude in - developing a professionalism that wasn't quite there three years ago.

'Now we don't drop many balls in training. We look very slick, not too far away from what I want.' His remodelled Ireland may yet lay claim to the title of the Six Nations' flair team, while the coach himself seeks comparison with an English soccer guru.

Gatland explained: 'I remember Terry Venables arriving to coach Middlesbrough and, when he was asked what he was going to do, he said get the defence sorted out, put some structures in place and get some organisation. When you do that, then you can develop your game.

'That's exactly what I did. The Irish team had been consistently beaten by 40 or 50 points against the good sides, so I said we have to get the set-pieces right, the line-outs and scrums, get our defence right, our rucking and mauling and ball presentation. That's all our focus was on for 12 months and, once we got those parts right, we knew we could start to be a bit more expansive and develop our game.

'What we're looking for is consistency of improvement. We want to build momentum - if we beat France anything can happen. We are capable of finishing right up there. England are obviously the class side, probably the best team in the world at the moment. I want us to emulate their achievements, match them and close the gap.'